Today in History - 1959

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens in New York City. Designed by acclaimed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the modern structure marked a bold departure from traditional museum design. Its exhibition space, designed to house contemporary art, features a six-story ramp that spirals upward a quarter mile and provides access to four levels of galleries. The spiraling ramp encircles a large open center naturally lit by the building's dramatic glass dome. Frank Lloyd Wright died six months before the dedication of the architectural masterpiece.